Reimbursement and Retribution
by Ruby S. Crimson
Summary: Who will pay for the lives of millions, and what punishment would be suffice.
1. Uninvited Guest

Title: Reimbursement and Retribution  
Author: Ruby S. Crimson  
Rated: M in the future  
Rating: Gen/Het  
Pairings: Unknown as of now.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Stargate. (That shows you how cruel this world is)  
Archive: Ask and you may receive  
Feedback: Please as much as possible good or bad is appreciated

Elizabeth sits at her desk going over the mission reports for the week. She took a sip of her coffee and smiled slightly she had finally accomplished what she thought was an impossible feat on Atlantis, the perfect cup of coffee. She savored it knowing that if she went back for more it wouldn't be the same. She shook off the thoughts of the swirling golden-brown liquid and continued her work. She checks her watch in three hours she would be giving Stargate Command their annual report on all things Atlantis which never cease to amaze. As the day wound on it looked as if for once they would have an uneventful day, the next batch of teams would be deployed from the gate tomorrow and other than the Wraith they hadn't met any hostile people in the last week and a half. Other than forthcoming a shortage of blue Jell-O that Rodney warned her of everything was going swimmingly this was a report she was glad to give General Landry and the I.O.A. Elizabeth looks up from her paper and into the quiet gateroom she watches the guards chit chat amongst themselves and then into the control room where it was pretty much the same.

"We have off gate activation," a young technician says loud enough for the entire control to hear over the klaxon of the alarm, Weir watches as another runs towards her office.

"Stargate Command is calling early?" She asks as the young man enters the room.

"No ma'am, and that's the only form of gate travel we have scheduled for today is the mission report with the S.G.C.," He says leading her to control.

"Do we have any teams off world?" She asks the gate technician as she enters the room.

"No, and I'm not receiving an I.D.C.'s or any transmissions," he answers. "I've activated the shield, should I lower it ma'am?"

"No, not until you receive an I.D.C.," Elizabeth and the others watch the gate waiting for either an I.D.C. to come through the gate of the flash of an object hitting the shield.

The soldiers down on the gate room floor begin to relax a bit when the shield isn't lowered and it looks as if there is no activity is coming from the other end of the gate.

"What's going on here?" John asks over the blaring alarm he's followed by Ronon, Teyla and Rodney.

"The gate was activated, but we don't know by whom or why," Elizabeth says still slightly focused on the gate.

"How long has it been open?" Rodney asked taking one of the technician's seats at a console and starts running scans.

"29 minutes sir," the tech sighs from behind him. "Sir I ran those tests on the gate,"

"Yes, yes that's all fine and good, no offence but you could have done something wrong or I'll catch something you missed," Rodney snaps waving his hand dismissively at the young tech. "And don't watch me over my shoulder."

"Is it a glitch?" John asks.

"Not that we know of," Elizabeth answers hunching her shoulders. "We have seven minutes till it over," She finishes looking at her watch.

"Do you think whatever dialed the gate knows of the shield and is waiting for you to lower it?" Teyla asks to no one in particular.

"That's not gonna happen," Ronon says walking towards the balcony in front of the control room.

"I don't know about you but I'm having a 'Caroline's in the T.V.' moment staring at the gate like this," John smiles coming and resting his arms on the railing at the edge of the control room next to Elizabeth. "If the lights start flickering and a kid covered in pink pudding falls out the ceiling I'm so gone." Teyla's eyebrows furrow and a slight smile crosses Elizabeth's face.

"Rodney have you gotten any thing," Weir asks.

"No, there is no reason the gate should be behaving like this,"

"Told you," the young technician gloated, only to be glared at by the scientist.

"Well seeing as the gate is about to shut down on it's…" Rodney stops in mid sentence as a white hooded figure steps through the gate and its shield. The guards instantly train their guns on the cloaked figure but they seem unfazed. It flips back the hood revealing a woman with raven hair and stormy grey eyes, she looks around the gate room and up into the control room.

"Halt!" The guards shout in unison as she takes a step toward the grand stairwell. The two men step in front of her as another two come into the room with wraith stunners and cover the sides. She takes another step and hears their guns cock. At this time John, Rodney, and Teyla have joined Ronon on the balcony as Elizabeth heads down the grand stairwell towards the visitor. Just as Elizabeth come near the bottom of the stair the visitor raises her slender finger towards the control room and simply says "You." Elizabeth stops mid-step and looks to John who's just as clueless as she. With a flick of her wrist she sends the guards flying into the four corners of the room, and continues toward the stairs.


	2. Collecting Rodney

The strange woman makes her way up the stairs pausing briefly on the steps to look Elizabeth over; when she reaches the first landing she's blocked by Ronon and John guns at their sides.

"I am here for him and him alone," She says in a matter of fact tone looking past the two men at Rodney who was now standing behind the console.

"We don't tend to give our people over to any ol' stranger that steps out of the gate," John comments cocking his head to the side.

"He has committed murder on a massive scale and has to serve his punishment," John and Ronon point their guns at the woman. "If you shoot me another will come in my place and they will not be as lenient as I am with you,"

"We'll take that chance," Ronon growls out moving his aim from the woman's chest to her head

"Do you condone his actions?" She asks furrowing her eyebrows at the pair.

"Lady we don't even know why you're here," John states hunching his shoulders.

"He is responsible for …," She is hit twice in the side by a wraith stunner held by one of the marines lying on the gateroom floor, she stares down angrily at the man and tosses him across the gateroom floor again and removes the weapons from the other three men before turning back to Ronon and John. "I'm beginning to get annoyed." She hisses narrowing her eyes at them, just as he began to speak again two more guards run into the gateroom from the upper level and shoot her two times each with their Wraith stunners from the landing behind her she groans, collapses, and Ronon catches her before she hits the stairs.

"We need medical and a security detail in the gateroom immediately," Elizabeth says into her comms.

"Why does she want me?" Rodney asks cautiously approaching the girl who was now cradled across Ronon's arms.

"She said you murdered some people," Ronon grunts out taking the woman down the stairs to an awaiting gurney.

"No, no, I haven't well not that I remember," he comments from the top of the stairs. "Okay what are we gonna do with her because when she comes to I think she's gonna be doubly pissed, and seeing as she walked through the gate shield, threw four soldiers without laying a hand on them, and it takes six Wraith blast to take her down, I'm definitely feeling a bit threatened here."

"Tell Carson to sedate her heavily until we find something to do with her," Elizabeth tells one of the medics as they wheel the woman off to the infirmary then the brig.

"Maybe she is an Ancient," Teyla proposed.

"I'll tell Carson to run some tests on her to see," Elizabeth sighs stepping to the side and activating her comm.

"What can we honestly do with her, she _walked_ trough a gate shield and there is no technology on her to explain how she did it." Rodney said pacing the conference room floor. "And I'm hoping the reason she could withstand the Wraith blasts was because she's hopped up on Wraith enzyme."

"Maybe if we speak with her we can convince her that Dr. McKay is not the man she's looking for," Teyla suggests.

"You know that's a good idea," Rodney says snapping his fingers at Teyla. "We can tell her it's all a big misunderstanding."

"And then you will inadvertently insult her, and she'll blow your head up with her mind anyway," John comments tilting his head slightly.

"What!"

"John," Elizabeth scolds.

"You don't think she can honestly do that do you?" Rodney asks looking toward Elizabeth.

"If she could she would have done it already," Ronon remarks.

"Right," McKay nods in agreement and finally sits down. "Elizabeth has Carson gotten back to you with the test results?"

"No Rodney,"

"Dr. Weir," Carson calls through Elizabeth's ear piece she taps the side and responds.

"Go ahead Carson."

"I have the test yer wanted on the lass. They are quite interesting."

"We'll be down in a minute." Elizabeth and the team leave the conference room headed for the medical labs.

"So is she an ancient?" Rodney asks impatiently after racing into the lab the others file into the room a short while after him.

"That can be answered with a no and maybe a yes," The doctor smiles.

"You've lost me," Rodney says shaking his head.

"A few weeks ago Dr. Gellar here was telling that he didn't think the Ancients learned to ascend on their own," Carson states nodding towards a man similar looking to Dr Zelenka.

"I've gone through a couple of the ancient databases, and I found a doctors log talking about ascended children well what I thought were ascended children, he was speaking of children that were born already ascended. He said that these children carried a mark on their right shoulder," he reaches for his laptop. "This mark," He shows them a picture of a shoulder with a raised hieroglyph on it.

"What does that have to do with her," John asks.

"Everything," he smiles. "Dr. Beckett found this on the girl's right shoulder when he took off her cloak to examine her. If I am correct she is or is descended from the people that taught the Ancients about ascension and how to ascend," Dr. Gellar smiles.

"Have the people in this room forgotten she might want to kill me or do you not care?" He looks around the lab for the young woman but she is nowhere to be seen. "Speaking of which where'd she go?" Rodney asked motioning around the room with his finger.

"But she is something much more exciting than that Dr. Beckett says she has significantly high brain activity and development meaning there is a strong chance this girl can communicate with ascended Ancients or even travel in-between planes of existence, she could be the answer or get the answers to so many of our questions Dr. Weir," Dr. Gellar smiles.

"Where is she now?" Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow watching Rodney look around the room cautiously.

"In the brig, we had to put her there immediately sedation did nothing to her once she began to come to." Dr. Beckett says.

"So Dr. Gellar you believe she _is_ an Ancient?" The man hunches his shoulders and raises his hands at Elizabeth's question. "Dr. Beckett?"

"There is a possibility if she is able to work Ancient technology that her gene has evolved differently from our thus why I can't find it."

"Real helpful," Rodney grunts sitting up on a bed. "I'm a dead man."


End file.
